We need to acknowledge that publishing has a white people blind spot, as well as defensiveness about the actual representation problems. Being racist does not mean necessarily that you’re incapable of change; looking inside yourself to find those blind spots is the first step.
Who are those Afro-descendent voices outside of the United States, and how do they think of themselves? What is their role in the struggle? Do they even adhere to Afrofuturism, and why?
As a writer and reader, I’m always searching for the alternative history of my lineage. I imagine them as fragments in the path I wasn’t guided down, the one which I still could and will walk down. Coming into a relationship with other queer Asian American speculative poets like Margaret Rhee has meant discovering another entry point—a writing and reading which has been there all along and which I was missing.
—Ching-In Chen
A Feminist Legacy
“SF is the only genre of literature in which it’s possible for a writer to explore the question of what this world would be like if you could get rid of [X], where [X] is filled in with any of the multitude of real world facts that constrain and oppress women.”
—Suzette Haden Elgin
When re-envisioning the world, poetry and science fiction have been tools for feminist writers and readers to re-imagine.
SFF is my blanket fort. It's not as durable as an escape pod, but it's a reliable source of comfort and it's bigger inside. It's the meeting place of hope and solidarity among those of us dreaming of better futures.
